Yesterday, March 19, marked the second day of talks, as part of a
weekend packed full of events and get-togethers, for the Free
Software Foundation's (FSF) fifteenth edition of its annual
LibrePlanet conference. This year's theme was "Charting the
Course," and the talks and activities were centered around where
we are now with regard to software freedom, where we are going,
and how to achieve common goals.
LibrePlanet participants taking a group photo on the Freedom Trail.
As reported in our blog on Saturday's events, this year's
many talks covered a variety of topics, and there is much to be
said about all of them. Here are some of our favorite moments
from Sunday. If you missed any of these, or any of the other
amazing talks, not to worry. We will publish the recordings of
the talks soon at https://media.libreplanet.org.
Saturday evening
After the talks on Saturday evening, in-person participants took
a walk on the historical Freedom Trail through Boston,
MA. Led by FSF staff members Jeanne Rasata and Michael McMahon,
attendees walked, socialized, and educated those who crossed
their path, many of whom asked to learn more about the "Free your
Computer" protest signs that the group brought on their trip.
Sunday morning
Sunday morning started with talks covering a variety of
subjects. Of the many topics covered were: how to achieve privacy
and security by using programs such as the collaborative FSF
project JShelter for Web browsers by Libor Polčák, and GNU
Taler for making payments, and how cybernetics has influenced
the course of technology by Clinton Ignatov. We also learned
the benefits of free software for aviation technologies
in "Safety-critical software certification and why free software
might be the best solution."
During Anaximander of Miletus's talk titled "Topographical
maps for all!" we learned about the role that 2018 Free Software Award winner Open Street Maps (OSM) played in assisting
people to print critically-needed maps in the aftermath of
Turkey's recent earthquake disaster. OSM data was accessible even
when Internet connectivity was down, because the data was
downloaded freely by individuals before the catastrophe. Maps
printed from this OSM data were used in relief efforts, while
centralized nonfree services failed. After sharing this story,
Miletus told the audience: "If you're going to do one thing for humanity,
contribute to OSM."
During Denis "GNUtoo" Carikli's talk "Taking control over
the means of production: Free software boot," a fork of Libreboot
was announced. This fork, published at https://libreboot.at/,
has been created to restore software freedom by removing nonfree
binary blobs.
The road to Aramo: Charting a course to the newest release of Trisquel
Sunday afternoon, Trisquel project founder and maintainer
Rubén Rodríguez Pérez spoke about Trisquel, his free
distribution, now in its nineteenth year. Rubén told the
audience that anyone, regardless of skill set, can contribute to
its future: "There's something for everyone," he said. Trisquel
developer Luis Gúzman (Ark74) contributed to the talk in the form
of a prerecorded video highlighting changes Trisquel has made to
Debian-installer (also known as "netinstall"), a text-based
system for installing GNU/Linux distributions.
Near the end of the talk, and much to the audience's delight,
Rubén released the newest version of Trisquel GNU/Linux,
codenamed Aramo, near the end of his talk. After sharing the
story behind the choice of the name Aramo, which, is the Celtic
god of pathways and roads, as well as a mountain range just next
to where Rubén lives, he released version 11 with a prepared
script live for a hybrid audience. The new version is available
for download now via https://trisquel.info/en/download.
Freedom on the farm, freedom in education
Farmer and activist Kevin Kenney asks free software developers for help toward achieving software freedom in agriculture.
During an engaging panel of some of the leading Right to Repair
activists in the US titled "It's time to jailbreak the farm,"
SecureRepairs founder, and 2021 FSF Award winner Paul Roberts,
hacker Sick Codes, farmer and engineer Kevin Kenney, and iFixit's
director of sustainability Elizabeth Chamberlain discussed the
importance of defending software freedom in farming. Kenney
shared with the audience how, in the past, tractors were purely
mechanical, and farmers were able to fix the machines that they
owned. Nowadays, tractors come with an entire operating system
pre-installed. Farmers need freedom over those systems in order
to repair their tools. Chamberlain underlined the point by
saying, "The tractor is a computer basically [...] all the same
issues that apply to laptops and phones apply to tractors."
Specifically calling out the dominant tractor manufacturer John
Deere as the "ringleader," panelist Kenney said, "We need to turn
the table on this tyrant that's taken these rights from us." He
clarified his stance, saying, "I'm not against corporations" and
that what he is against is companies such as John Deere denying
him, and others like him, control over his machines. Sharing his
experience as a farmer in the field, he said, "We were taught
that self-reliance was the first line of defense when things went
wrong on the farm. [...] It's not a matter of if we are going
to break it; it's when," he added that, nowadays, with
computerized farming tools, "We don't have control over
agriculture." Several times during the panel discussion, Kenney
called upon those with the technical skills to contribute to the
advancement of a user-friendly, fully-free, fully-repairable
system for tractors to help the cause.
Aaron Wolf in "Kids
need to experience software freedom, not just the idea of it."
Panelist Sick Codes shared the findings of his research, such as
how much of the software running on John Deere tractors is, in
fact, licensed under copyleft free software licenses such as the
GPL. More information on this was also discussed in his Saturday
session called "The state of free software in farming, food &
agriculture."
Meanwhile, broadcasting in another room, musician and educator Aaron
Wolf presented a touching demonstration, together with his son, of
ways that you can engage children with free software. Titled "Kids
need to experience software freedom, not just the idea of it." Wolf
demonstrated various programs from the command line that anyone can
try at home that introduce important free software concepts to youth.
As is LibrePlanet tradition, there was a lively "hallway track"
throughout the conference, featuring hacker to hacker conversations on
topics as far-flung as geocaching, cartography, different kinds of
hummus, and the proper kind of plastic for a screen protector.
Elizabeth Chamberlain calls for software freedom and Right to Repair.
Closing keynote: The future of the right to repair and free software
Dr. Elizabeth Chamberlain, Director of Sustainability at
iFixit, gave the Sunday evening keynote. Among other topics, she
spoke about the threat that Digital Restrictions
Management (DRM) presents to one's ability to repair
wheelchairs, phones, and other devices. She exposed the unjust
practice of tractor manufacturers such as John Deere, whose "full
diagnostic software is only available to dealers." And how many
calls to release the source code by the Software Freedom
Conservancy were unsuccessful so far.
Chamberlain also spoke about the privacy implications that these
nonfree systems present, sharing how tractor manufacturers such as
John Deere collect personal farmer data, sell that same data back to
the farmers, then use that money to hire lobbyists to work against the
farmers' best interests. She also shared some progress in the right to
repair movement, such as France's requirement that manufacturers
display repairability scores upon their sale, and how this is shaping
consumer habits.
Chamberlain ended her talk with a rousing call to action, which was greeted
by the audience with an energetic applause: "I know a ragtag group of
activists who know how to get shit done."
Closing notes
LibrePlanet's hallway track.
Concluding the conference, FSF's program manager Miriam Bastian
once more congratulated the 2022 FSF Award winners, thanked
the more than thirty volunteers, both online and in person, more
than fifty-five speakers, all the attendees, whether in person or online, and
FSF staff for their work in putting together this memorable first
hybrid LibrePlanet conference. Much of the setup we
published about previously was used again this year, except
the streaming desktop either received the presenter stream from
ffmpeg or tuned into a BigBlueButton session with
OBS. Bastian acknowledged the free software engine that enabled
the conference to run in freedom for both those organizing the
conference as well as those attending, whether they were there in
person or watching from their computers at home.
